tues 27 aug presentations

will begin at 14.15
themes a, b, c, d + e
bring project work
in working format
not necessary in digital format 
as stated on tuesday
the final handin for the vision is
friday 30 august
as it states in the courseoutline
keep drawing . . .

From Architecture to Urban Design _comments

mavuso
the contrast between the street as a container of human activity with modernist vision of a high rise city of anomie bit is brilliant.  project uses, excellently, images, plan, section + perspectives effectively as a supplement to the text.  this renders the page as a very rich expression, allowing the eyes to constantly wander.  excellent rendition, down to the references.7.5/10

simoes
excellent title, with a competent intro, body project to conclusion with pertinent observations.  project suffers from being too text 'heavy.'  all the headings should have been illustrated to enhance the spatial + volumetric dimension of the observations.  to simply rely on captured film stills is insufficient.6/10

public and private spaces
why doesn't the author's name appear of the sheet?  project, as the one above, stays on one dimension, relying exclusively of sourced film stills.  why?  the films were chosen because of their vertical + horizontal lines, no where does the project address this.  a lost opportunity.  the blue line is an excellent touch.5.8/10

segooa
a well structured poster, which is unfortunately marred by being extremely text 'heavy,' and very dark image reproductions.  this takes away from the rigour of the exploration executed in the project.  competent layout, but the brief called for the use of plan, section + elevation, in articulating the task.  this is a pity since the project possesses a rich exploratory structure.5.8/10

kluth
diversity is key is key!  a very well executed project displaying enormous capacity in fusing text + graphics.  a pleasure to look at and read.  the text boxes could have aligned better to illustrate the grid of the city's blocks.  that being said, continue to work this way, especially the collage, drawing expression hugging the bottom of the page's horizontal frame.75/10

architecture in film_comments

inception
great opening paragraph.  substitute camera-man with director of photography or camera-person.  when naming the cast, robert should have been included since a reference is made to him.  overall a pleasant read, infused with a sufficient dose of melodrama to keep one reading, but slightly marred by grammatical errors.  it is critically assess not critically asses.  the last paragraphs explains that the film was analysed using 5 themes -- these should have been stated in the beginning, not at the end, for a consistent narrative.  why is the sentence, dreams feel real when we're in them . . . in quotation marks?  images would have enhanced the paper. 6/10

the matrix
well scripted intro.  the paper states, in the 3rd paragraph, motel in downtown manhattan - is this accurate?  the idea was the locations to be a generic american city, which was actually filmed in sydney, australia.  overall a very competent paper, which is uses text to pain powerful imagery, it is a pity that this was not illustrated using pictures to drive the visuals home. 6.3/10

zero dark thirty
very moving intro with creaking floorboards to black sites as a way to set the tempo.   narrative is well constructed, employing excellent sentence structure, keeping the reader informed and interested.  that being said, the paper only used a single, well referenced image, to give a 3 dimensionality to the text, which was a lost opportunity, since the paper is very rich visually.  next time, be not afraid to saturate your text with images.  they enhance the narrative.  well written. 7.3/10

angels and demons
a well written paper, saturated with imagery and astute perceptions.  the narrative contains  the correct ebbs and flows to keep one interested, to dramatically end with someone setting themselves on fire.  the visual inclusion of saint peter's square is welcome and appreciated, but why only just the two?  why wasn't the archivo vaticano, of the fountain of the four rivers illustrated?  a lost opportunity, but somewhat mitigated by the dramatic concluding sentence.  7.3/10

harry potter
the title of the film would have been appreciated on the cover page.  the intro, with the cupboard under the stairs bit, as harry's habitat, is a gem.  the drawings offer better access, but they cannot be both a ground floor plan.  overall a competent paper, employing well sourced and applicable imagery to enhance the narrative.  well done on this.  as much as the referenced page is appreciated, it remains obscure because one cannot place the images with the reference. 6.7/10

Corridor_Urban _Scans - Tuesday 13 August 2013_Crits

class will be only in the afternnon on tues

use the morning slot to tighten your 15 minute afternoon presentation

order of crits - e, d, c, b + a

to recap

Corridor_Urban _Scans

Research Question

Method

Output

Cartographic Recording, Planning Docs

Plans and Sections, Photographs

A History - natasha - keep hand drawing (orange)

How has this corridor and surrounding areas developed over time?

Documentation of the historical development of the corridor and surrounding areas. From the Carlton Centre through an industrial area, the former mining belt, past a larger water body Wemmer Pan, Pioneer Park, a race course to the mostly residential suburbs of La Rochelle and Rosettenville, this north-south connection is cutting through a multitude of divers sub/urban fabric.

Production of plans, sections (including underground activities like mining) and possible photographic records of the development of the area. It is important to understand the present reality through development over time. Drawings should be of a similar scale, like for example plans from 1920, 1950, 1980 and today. Use the existing UDFs to gather material. If you find historical photographs, take a photo form the same viewpoint today. Talk to people in the areas about their experience and write it down.

Contextual Analysis

Diagrams, Maps and Sections

B Urban + Economic Morphologies - nkosolenhle - complete the basemap and move on to your theme (blue)

What are the different urban and economic forms along the corridor?

Recording of the morphology of spaces. What are the spatial patterns and geometries? Where do people live, shop and/ or work? What are the economic patterns of the different sections along the corridor? How are they related to the physical form? What are the underlying structures? Have there been changes over time? Consider sectional developments, taking the mining activities into consideration.

Production of maps of public and private spaces and related sections. Maps of street and building patterns, overlaid with patterns of flows of money, incomes, expenditure, types of businesses, economies and participants. Forms of trade versus build forms of public and private nature.

Investigative Analysis

Diagrams, Maps and Sections

C 24/7: Timetables + Programmes - charnelle - take more images + located them on your plan with captions (yellow)

What happens when, where and why?

Investigation into the multiple activities in the various sections along the corridor, per time per day and per day per week, as accurate and comprehensive as possible. Distinguish between formal, informal, legal, illegal, contract work, day jobs, self employment, scale of business. Leisure, religious, educational activities. Locate those activities in space and try to find out patterns of activities.

Production of timetables for different sections of the corridor, using maps, sections, photographs and diagrams. Pointing out peak points and densities of activities and their specifics.

Observation, Drawing and Photographs

Plans and Sections, Photographs

D Borders, Boundaries + Movement - vanessa - caption images + break aerial to 3 or 4 squares (red)

How do people, goods and information move through the different territories?

Documentation of movement in various contexts. What role does the corridor and surrounding areas play on a local scale, metropolitan scale, national scale? How does it accommodate those different roles?How do cars, taxis, buses, bikes and pedestrians interact? How are the different parts of urban fabric distinguished from each other? What goods are transported? What are the borders and boundaries? Where do people come from, where do they go to?

Production of maps, sections and photographic records for the different scales of flows. Dissect the different layers of pathways of pedestrians, public and private transport, waiting areas, parking spaces, and connected infrastructure. Identify the various parts of urban fabric and their borders

Catalogue and Inventory

E Landscapes, Languages + Typologies - tjaka - get a grip on your theme (green)

What kind of buildings are along the corridor in what context?

Recording of building types along the corridor in their specific context. What different landscapes do emerge along the road? Who is operating within them? What languages are spoken in various parts? What is the relation of private and public space? How do the buildings relate to public space? What thresholds can you identify? What is the market price of those buildings?

Production of a catalogue kind of inventory of existing buildings and their relation to public space and context (physical and cultural landscape). Layers: programme, heights, thresholds, form/ appearance, plans, sections, original/ alterations/ additions, formal/ informal, good/ bad condition, in use/ abandoned, languages. Plan, cross/ section, photography.

interim crits for tuesday 23 july 2013

we will have interim crits this pm beginning at 14.15
prepare a max of 7 slides

14.15 - 14.25 matthew dugmore - maps

14.27 - 14.37 tjaka segooa - reptiles

14.39 - 14.49 nkosilenhle mavuso - mbabane

15.02 - 15.12 charnelle kluth - desert

15.14 - 15.24 vanessa simoes - inaccessibility / difficulty

15.26 - 15.36 natasha de sa santos - nicole's bedfordview, 

2013 course summary

Project 1                                                           5%

Architecture in Film

Project 2                                                           5%

From Architecture to Urban Design

Project 3                                                           25%*

Urban Scans

Project 4                                                           40%*

Urban Design Framework

Project 5

Seminar + Poster                                             15%

Theoretical Positions (3) envisioned

Oral Exam                                                        10%*

*externally examined (75%)

Project 3 + 4 will form part of the Rosettenville City Studio.

Project 3

Urban Scans

Project 3 will ‘scan’ three (x) areas of 500 by 500 meters along the corridors from Johannesburg CBD to and through Rosettenville. Students will be asked to identify physical, cultural, social, historical and economical layers and variables that make up the reality of each specific piece of urban fabric. Photographic recordings and other mapping techniques will guide the students through this complex phase together with a proposed research matrix. Unstructured interviews will be part of the scanning process ‘to expose the researcher to unanticipated themes and to help him or her to develop a better understanding of the interviewees’ social reality from the interviewees’ perspectives.’

(Unstructured Interviews by Yan Zhang and Barbara M. Wildemuth)

A vision for the selected areas will lead to the next project, an urban design framework for 2 north south corridors through Rosettenville.

Project 4

UDF North South Corridors

Re-envision the gap

The urban design framework will follow three principles of contextual urbanism and envision the development of the selected corridors:

- it starts with a precise description of everything empirically encountered, while making no distinction between the planned and the unplanned or the physical and the non-physical.  it aims to avoid qualitative judgements.

- it endeavours to distil a story, an image and a distinguishing characteristic from what it has encountered, while treating complexity and in some cases paradox as positive qualities.

- it formulates projects from the standpoint of the continuity of the city as analysed, and implements these projects as a series or more or less mutuallty independent interventions, of limited scale although with an impact on the whole.[i]

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[i] WIMBY! Hoogvliet, Future, Past and Present of a New Town, 2007, NAI Publishers

handout 1, task 1+2